DRY MOON in a DARK SKY

On February 1^st, Ron and I headed south on the Island Highway bound, once again, for the Saanich Peninsula. This time we avoided Spaghetti Junction, favouring instead the exit to Beacon Avenue and the heart of downtown Sidney. Ron was due to read at the public library at 6:30 pm. The afternoon was sunny but a cold wind blew across the Salish Sea and the San Juan Islands whipping up white caps. It was an outflow wind, coming from Bellingham.

We arrived at the library at dusk and met our host, Library Manager, Sharon Walker, who led us to the meeting room, a congenial space to the left of the main entrance. Sharon and I set up about twenty chairs. Then we spread out a green cloth over a table where Sharon put out coffee and cookies at one end and I put out some copies of The Defiant Mind for sale at the other.

By 6:35 pm an audience of sixteen people had assembled. Sharon introduced Ron and his reading, interspersed with questions, began. At 7:55 pm I interrupted Ron, (wives are wont to do this) suggesting that the Sidney/North Saanich Library normally closed its doors at 8 pm. We stayed in the meeting room for another half hour while Ron signed books. Many people had already purchased the book and had brought their own copies with them. Others had been instructed to come by friends. Old-fashioned word of mouth had begun to demonstrate its effect.

As Sharon let us out of the back door of the meeting room she said, “I’m the luckiest librarian here to have had this assignment. Ron’s book is going right to the top of my reading list.”

The return drive to Nanoose Bay took a little over two hours. Traffic was light. I kept to the speed limit and took the time to admire the golden crescent moon, hanging saucer-like near the horizon in the clear black sky, leading us home.